Alcatraz warden's notebook page for John Paul Chase, No. 238
Bureau of Prisons notebook page with the identification photograph of John Paul Chase, received at Alcatraz on 31 March 1935 by direct commitment from the court at Chicago for "Killing Federal Officer," life sentence. A copy is stored here.
- Date
- 1935-03-31/1954-09-21
- Kind
- photograph
- Retrieved
- 2026-10-12
- NAID
- 236735026
- Rights
- A Bureau of Prisons record, public domain under 17 U.S.C. § 105. Series "Warden's Notebook Pages" (NAID 296686), Records of the Bureau of Prisons (Record Group 129), National Archives at San Francisco. The National Archives catalog marks use "Unrestricted."
The page reads “Name John Paul Chase, No. 238,” received “3-31-35” from “Court,” with the date of birth “12/26/01.” The offense is “Killing Federal Officer,” sentence “Life,” dated 3-28-35, district “N/Ill., Chicago.” A handwritten note reads “9/21/54 - Trf. to Leav.” A red line at the top records that he was taken out on a writ of habeas corpus ad testificandum on January 15, 1938 for the Southern District of New York and returned February 8, 1938.
Under “Detainers” the page notes an indictment returned at Chicago charging Chase with the murder of Special Agent Herman E. Hollis, “still outstanding against him.” Under “Partners or co-defendants” it names “Lester Gillis, (deceased).” The page also repeats rumor and “underworld opinion” from the Bureau’s files about other crimes; those passages are allegations and are not repeated here.
The National Archives catalog gives his death date as 10/05/1973 at Palo Alto; that is the catalog’s compiled entry, not part of the page.